Coinbase has received a Financial Services Permission (FSP) from Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) to arrange investment deals and provide custody services for tokenised securities, the company . The permission designates ADGM as Coinbase’s international tokenisation hub, and appears on , though a direct permalink to ADGM’s specific release could not be independently located at the time of writing.
What the permission actually covers
| Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), Abu Dhabi Global Market |
| What’s granted | A Financial Services Permission to arrange investment deals in, and provide custody for, tokenised securities |
| Access model | Eligible users participate through digital wallets rather than relying solely on traditional brokerage accounts and correspondent banking relationships |
| Shareholder rights | Verified token holders receive rights tied to the represented stock, including dividends (automatically reinvested) and voting rights, subject to prospectus terms and vesting requirements |
| What’s not disclosed | Supporting blockchains, the full list of eligible securities beyond Apple, a launch date, or which jurisdictions’ users are eligible |
Coinbase said: “Our newly acquired FSRA license means that we can now bring global securities to anyone with a wallet.”
Brett Tejpaul, co-chief executive of Coinbase Institutional, said: “No major financial centre has yet built a framework that treats tokenised equities simultaneously as securities, blockchain-native tokens, and DeFi-composable assets.”
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Arvind Ramamurthy, ADGM’s chief market development officer, described the hub as supporting “products designed to improve market access and transparency while maintaining regulatory oversight.”
The Apple certificates, and what they actually are
Alongside the FSP, the FSRA issued by Coinbase Onchain SPV Ltd, an ADGM special purpose vehicle Coinbase created in June 2026. The certificates represent beneficial interests in Apple common stock, registered and issued in ADGM and fully backed by the underlying shares under FSRA supervision, rather than a security issued or endorsed by Apple itself. That distinction matters: this is a Coinbase-structured product referencing Apple stock, not a listing Apple is a party to.
Where this sits in ADGM’s broader tokenisation push
The Coinbase permission is the latest in a run of tokenisation approvals ADGM has made this year. The FSRA recognised Tether Gold as an Accepted Spot Commodity in July, and a separate tokenised US Treasury Bill fund launched as ADGM’s first structure of its kind.
ADGM also signed a memorandum of understanding with Chainlink to support tokenisation infrastructure, and Binance separately became the first crypto exchange to secure a global licence under ADGM’s framework. Coinbase’s own footprint in the region extends beyond Abu Dhabi: the company is separately building a derivatives hub in Dubai, regulated apart from this ADGM tokenised-securities permission.
